Performance

The vivo V7+ is powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 chip. Despite its 4-series branding, this one is more of a reworked Snapdragon 625 and comes to replace the Snapdragon 435.

The 450's processor has eight 1.8GHz Cortex-A53 cores and promises a 25% boost in processing speed over the incumbent S435 chip. It also moves to the Adreno 506 GPU, which will offer a 25% boost in gaming performance.

Of course, the highlight of this new chip is that it's built on a 14nm process - the first among the 4-series. Power draw when gaming will be reduced by up to 30% and Qualcomm expects batteries will offer up to 4 hours more of active use compared to the old chip.

Finally, vivo has granted the V7+ with 4 gigs of RAM - great for games and multi-tasking.

And now - it's benchmark time. GeekBench is what we ran first, and the V7+ did great. As expected, its 1.8GHz processor is faster than the 1.6GHz but can't match the 2.0 and 2.2GHz ones. Whether it's single or multi-core tasks though, the V7+ will easily get the job done.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

Xiaomi Mi A1877

HTC U11 Life873

Moto G5S Plus843

vivo V7+767

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro735

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)734

Nokia 6 (Global version)665

LG Q6584

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Xiaomi Mi A14292

Moto G5S Plus4193

HTC U11 Life4140

vivo V7+3912

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)3779

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro3768

Nokia 6 (Global version)2841

LG Q62011

We've already seen the Adreno 506GPU perform on the Snapdragon 625 (Mi A1, V5+, Moto G5S+), so this is a welcome upgrade for the 4xx generation. Just as expected, as far as raw power is concerned, the 450's Adreno 506 is on par with the one inside the 620. It is better than the old Adreno 505, of course, but not as fast as the Adreno 508 in Snapdragon 630 (HTC U11 Life).

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

HTC U11 Life9.6

Oppo F57.1

Xiaomi Mi A16.4

Moto G5S Plus6.4

vivo V5 Plus6.2

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)6.2

vivo V7+6.1

Nokia 6 (Global version)4.6

LG Q63.8

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro3.3

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)3.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

HTC U11 Life5.4

Oppo F54.2

Xiaomi Mi A13.5

Moto G5S Plus3.4

vivo V5 Plus3.4

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)3.4

vivo V7+3.3

Nokia 6 (Global version)2.5

LG Q62.1

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro1.9

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)1.9

But the V7+ isn't utilizing a 1080p screen, but a 720p one, which means less pixels and more processing power. And it blew the competition away at the actual onscreen tests.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

vivo V7+13

HTC U11 Life9.6

Moto G5S Plus6.8

Oppo F56.8

Xiaomi Mi A16.3

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)6.2

vivo V5 Plus6.1

Nokia 6 (Global version)4.5

LG Q63.5

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro3.3

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)3.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

vivo V7+6.6

HTC U11 Life5.3

Oppo F54

Moto G5S Plus3.8

Xiaomi Mi A13.5

vivo V5 Plus3.4

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)3.4

Nokia 6 (Global version)2.5

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro1.9

LG Q61.9

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)1.9

The BaseMark X test puts the vivo V7+ on par with quite a few mid-rangers, but behind the more powerful U11 Life.

Basemark X

Higher is better

HTC U11 Life14286

vivo V5 Plus10542

Moto G5S Plus10488

Xiaomi Mi A110472

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)10446

vivo V7+9955

Oppo F59205

Nokia 6 (Global version)7516

LG Q66179

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro5497

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)5489

Finally, we ran some all-round benchmarks. BaseMark OS 2.0 puts the vivo v7+ on top of every other device but the HTC U11 Life. AnTuTu's score on the other hand turned out rather average.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

HTC U11 Life1342

vivo V7+1290

Xiaomi Mi A11262

Moto G5S Plus1176

vivo V5 Plus1107

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)1050

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro1038

Oppo F5424

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)349

LG Q6275

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

HTC U11 Life72854

Moto G5S Plus64554

Oppo F563889

vivo V5 Plus63812

Xiaomi Mi A161762

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)61616

vivo V7+57791

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro47920

Nokia 6 (Global version)47495

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)46822

LG Q637276

Qualcomm's latest addition to the basic 4xx series has turned out to be a capable sillicone and you can tell by the scores. We ran quite a few 3D games, both arcades and shooters, and they were smooth and enjoyable. The wide-screen helps for an immersive experience, while the more than adequate chips boosts the enjoyment.

The Snapdragon 450 chip is built on a 14nm process, which meant low heat output and we can confirm the V7+ doesn't get hot at all. We expect the adoption rate of the S450 to go sky-hike in the next couple of months.